Picker check



June 1 1926.,

1,587,149 L. M. COTCHETT PICKER CHECK Filed Jan 1 1925 Patented dune l, 1926.

UNITED STATES fielded PATENT @FFHQE.

LOUIS M. COTCHETT, OF WEST NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB TO vTHE STAF- FORD COMPANY, OF READVILLE, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

PICKER CHECK.

The invention is applicable to looms, and has relation in particular to the devices known as picker-checks designed for controlling the movement of the picker of a loom to cause it to check the speed of the shuttle and bring the latter to rest when struck by the shuttle as the latter passes home into a shuttle-box.

The object of the invention is to provide a device of this class adapted to bring the shuttle to rest gradually and thus prevent throwing the wound filling Within the shuttle off of its carrier, as well as reducing the wear on the picker itself and diminishing the tendency of the shuttle to rebound.

The invention comprises a picker-check consisting in a strap which is combined with a picker-stick, a friction surface with which said strap makes contact, and a springactuated arm serving to reduce the acting area of the contact between the strap and the friction surface as the picker-stick is brought to rest after receiving the impulse that is due to impact of the shuttle against the picker carried by the picker-stick.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which 2-- Fig. 1 is a front elevation of certain of the parts at one end of the lay-beam of a loom showing the picker-stick and the picker-check combined therewith.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 22 of Fig. 1, on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation showing particularly the inner end of the strap, the friction surface, and the arm aforesaid.

Having reference to the drawings The picker-stick 1 is engaged below the lay-beam 2 with the strap 3 of the pickercheck. In this instance the outer end of the strap is engaged with the pickenstick by means of a fastening 6. From the pickerstick the strap 3 extends inwardly of the loom below the lay-beam, and passes partway around a friction surface constituted in the present instance by the exterior of a shell-like rim or flange 4 extending forward from a support 5 which is attached to the rearward surface of the lay-beam 2 in suitable manner, as by means of rivets 7, 7. The inner end of the strap 3 is engaged with a pin 8 which is threaded into the end of an arm 9 having a pintle 1O revolubly mounted in a hub 11 formed on the support 5 within the 'rim or flange 4:. A lock-nut 12 serves to hold the pin Ssecurely in place, and a cotter-pin 13 maintains the pintle of said arm 9 within the hub 11. The strap 3 is convemently combined with said pin 8 in this instance by having its end-portion doubled back and secured to form a loop which fits around the pin 8. About the hub 11 is mounted a coil-spring 14, the inner end of which 1s anchored by means of a screw 15 to the support 5, and the outer end of which is engaged with the arm 9, by bending it re versely in the manner shown at 16, so as to tend to rotate the arm 9 in a'counter clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3 to wrap 7 the strap 3 about the friction surface of the rim or flange 4L.

lVhen the shuttle-box is empty, the pickerstick 1 occupies the position indicated in dotted lines at A in Fig. 1. The shuttle 17 7 as it passes home into the shuttle-box strikes the picker 18 upon the end of the pickerstick 1 and by its momentum drives the picker and picker-stick outwardly of the loom. This outward movement is resisted by the strap 3 which in turn is restrained from outward movement by the combined action of the spring 141 and the friction arising through contact between the strap and the friction surface of the rim or flange 4. $5 The outward movement of strap 3 is accompanied by a clockwise rotation of arm 9 around the said rim or flange, and correspondingly by a reduction of the area of contact between the strap 3 and the friction surface of the rim or flange. The tension of spring 14: does not increase materially dur ing the movement of arm 9, but the braking effect lessens as the picker-stick moves toward its outermost position. By reason of the fact that the radial distance of the curved acting surface of the rim or flange from the pivotal axis of arm 9 is practically equal to that of the point at which the strap is engaged with the said arm, the effeet of the angular swinging movements of the arm 9 is to cause the strap to slip upon the said curved acting surface a distance substantially as great as that of the angular swinging movement of the said point of. engagement. The result of the operation of my device as the pickertick moves as just mentioned is a gradual checking action upon the shuttle which brings it smoothly to rest without tendency to rebound, and without throwing the wound mass of filling within it off the filling-carrier.

In certain instances it is contemplated to instal a similar device at the outermost end of the lay-beam, in addition to one in the described position, in order to check the inward movement of the picker-stick in picking the shuttle across the loom. In this case, instead of securing the strap 3 t0 the picker stick, as at G in Fig. 1, the two corresponding straps in the duplicated arrangement would be joined to the ends of an elongated or ohlong link within which the picker-stick has a certain amount of freemovement inward and outward.-

mat I claim as my invention is A picker-check comprising a strap which cooperates with the picker-stick of a loom, a curved friction surface around which said strap extends in contact therewith, and a spring-actuated arm with which said strap is engaged at a point closely adjacent the periphery of said friction surface so that the angular swinging movements of the arm slide the strap upon the said curved friction surface a distance equal to the extent of the angular movement of the point of 60111180- tion of the strap with the arm.

LOUIS M. COTCHETT. 

